Tread Carefully.. Tyres are EVERYTHING
It might sound strange but one of the best pound for pound modifications or upgrades you can make to your Jaguar are tyres. Generally speaking, most tyre fitters including ourselves would recommend fitting a homologated tyre. This is a tyre that is tested and approved by the motor manufacturer for your model, often suspension and handling set-up for the car is done using the homologated tyre, so this makes an awful lot of sense as they are working in harmony with the car. Jaguar homologated tyres will often have the letter ‘J’ moulded on the sidewall with a lot of other marks that give information about the tyre. This information is important when you come to change or replace your tyres.
At Swallows we are agents for both Pirelli and Yokohama and we can also supply and fit a wide range of other tyres including Dunlop, which along with Pirelli are often used by Jaguar as homologated brands on Jaguar models. Tyres at the end of the day are arguably the most important single component on your vehicle, after all, this is the only part in direct contact with the road surface. So having said all that, it might sound like a bit of a contradiction to say that going away from a homologated is good modification or upgrade. Well, there are times and circumstances when it’s desirable to move away from the manufactures recommend tyre.
Just like altering suspension components changing tyres alters the way that a car behaves. This can be because of the compound used, the design of the tread pattern, the depth and rigidity of the sidewall, and not least the tyre pressure. There are times when we want to alter the character of the way a reacts to the road surface. An example would be if we have made other modifications to the car such as increased performance or suspension set-up. It’s essential to choose tyres that complement these changes. So we would opt for high-performance tyre with a sticky compound and a tread pattern designed for maximum grip. On the other hand, if you’ve adjusted the suspension for improved comfort or off-road capability, you may select tires with a softer sidewall and an all-terrain tread pattern.
In essence, tyres play a crucial role in fine-tuning a car’s behaviour on the road. They serve as the point of contact between the vehicle and the driving surface, and as such, they can significantly influence handling, traction, braking, and overall driving dynamics. The right choice of tyres can help you optimize your car’s performance and ensure it behaves in a manner that aligns with your driving preferences and any modifications you’ve made to the vehicle. It’s important that we carefully consider the interplay between tyres, suspension, and other car components to achieve the desired driving experience.
We have recently started working with Yokohama and we have been incredibly impressed with the quality of the tyres they offer. Our partnership with Yokohama has come about like many of our other partnerships through racing. For many years the Jaguar Saloon and GT Championship has run a controlled tyre, namely the Toyo R888R. It has been a really good quality track/race/fast road tyre for many years and served the championship very well. At the start of the 2023 season the current arrangement with Toyo ended and we were given a ‘free’ choice of tyre rather than being on a controlled tyre. This led to a great deal of testing and experimentation with a number of different tyres. It led us eventually to the Yokohama Advan AO52 tyre. This has now become the ‘go to tyre’ across the grid. When comparing our historical lap times, it was noticed that on certain circuits, lap times had dropped considerably and by almost three seconds per lap with particular cars in certain conditions. As I’m sure you will appreciate this is a monumental shift in racing terms. This led us to open a discussion with Yokohama and they were keen to come and see what we were doing in Somerset and leading to us becoming agents for their tyres. Since then, we have tested a range of tyres across our track and road cars. We believe they offer us some options where they can out- perform the homologated tyres, for example, we often get complaints with the XKR 5.0 and F-Type being extremely twitchy with excessive oversteer with the homologated Pirelli, lots of this character is due to the rear wheel drive high power output and the homologated tyre is designed to meet various regulations and standards, which can limit their performance capabilities in some areas. With the Yokohama we offer the Advan V107 which practically outperforms the Pirelli in every area and transforms the grip level in both dry and wet with a hugely improved sidewall construction the cars feel far more stable at speed. We have even noticed improved handling due to the A cutting edge technology and rigorous quality control standards, ensuring consistently high-quality products. This attention to detail provides more consistent characteristics compared to factory homologated Tyres that may be produced with cost and other considerations in mind.
The other potential reason for moving away from the homologated tyres can be that tyre technology like other tech it moves on. Put simply what was the best available twenty years ago isn’t necessary the same now and some homologated tyres are simply no longer available in the form they were at the time. Even if the tyre name is the same, manufacturers change the mix in their compounds and stiffness of the tyre wall. In this instance then it can be an advantage to switch brands to a better performing tyre.
At the end of the day we need to think carefully about tyre choice, it matters enormously to way a car rides and performs and to the enjoyment that we get from the car. It is such a big topic without even going into winter tyres, summer tyres, all season tyres, so it’s something we will return to no doubt in a future edition. As a general rule, you are driving a quality performance car, so fit high-quality tyres and seek advice from knowledgeable tyre fitters.
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